After finding some black swallowtail caterpillars in our garden earlier this summer, we were very surprised to find giant swallowtail caterpillars too. We were even more surprised because these caterpillars looked like bird poop! That is how my son identified them. He typed "caterpillars that look like bird poop" into a Google search engine, and … Continue reading Raising Giant Swallowtail Butterflies
Earlier this summer, we saw a monarch butterfly laying eggs on our milkweed plant, but when the caterpillars were very tiny, they disappeared. We believe a wasp preyed upon them. That was disappointing, but soon after, we found some other interesting caterpillars in our yard. We identified these as black swallowtails. There were seven. We didn't take … Continue reading Raising Black Swallowtail Butterflies
In August and September, we had a pretty amazing experience. It started because last spring, I tried planting some milkweed seeds. My plan was to grow a lot of milkweed, and then I would order some monarch larvae and try to raise them just like we did for painted ladies four years ago. My ideas … Continue reading Raising Monarch Butterflies
Today is Friday, and we all needed a break, so we decided to take a little hike at our nearby state park, Ft. Yargo. It's only about 15 minutes from our house, and every time we go, we say, "We should come here more often." But we don't go nearly enough. Ft. Yargo State Park … Continue reading Nature Watch: Ft. Yargo State Park
When we were in New Mexico, we stopped along the road to enjoy the view and take photos. If I hadn't of almost stepped on this little guy, I would have never seen him. My boys knew exactly what it was and told me it was a "horny toad." After searching on the Internet, I've … Continue reading Nature Watch: Horned Lizard
One morning I went out to water our garden, and I found this beauty on the green bean leaves. Curiously, I had also seen this moth on our porch one evening, but the colors were much more muted. I don't know if this is a slightly different species or the sunlight was making it shine, … Continue reading Nature Watch: Oakworm Moth
One other Nature Watch from our day at Smithgall Woods State Park. They wouldn't let us get too close, but you can imagine our delight when we happened upon these beautiful Canada Geese swimming in a boggy area at the park. As you may know if you read my blog, my six-year-old loves birds, but … Continue reading Nature Watch: Canada Geese
A month or so ago, we visited Smithgall Woods State Park, and while we were walking back to the parking lot, we came across this beautiful, medium-sized black rat snake. Black rat snakes are the most common snake in Georgia, so we've seen a few of them. Snakes were my eldest son's first love. When he … Continue reading Nature Watch: Black Rat Snake
You'll never guess where we found this beautiful little frog! It was in our upstairs bathroom! We have no idea how it got there. This is actually the second time we've found a frog inside our house. Both times, we thought perhaps our dog had brought it in and dropped it, but now I'm wondering … Continue reading Nature Watch: Cope’s Tree Frog
I think this is what I love about homeschooling the most: my boys are very connected to the wildlife outside our windows because they are home all day, and we are always looking out our windows. This morning I was sitting at the kitchen table when something fluttered by outside the window. "Boys!" I called. … Continue reading Nature Watch: Carolina Chickadee fledges
